Genesis
by Total Targaryen
Summary: Ellie Stark doesn't find it easy, being the daughter of a billionaire. But when Tony is kidnapped in Afghanistan, Ellie feels the need to take matters into her own hands, especially when Obadiah Stane is determined to take control of Stark Industries. With trouble on the horizon, Ellie will need to support her father's transformation into Iron Man...but can she?


**Chapter One: Ellie Stark**

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**A/N: Hey people! Okay so I haven't seen the Iron Man movie in a while, so I'm going back over it soon...this first chapter is a bit of background. Hope you enjoy! Also, Ezekiel Stane is a character from the comics...look him up ;)**

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Ellie Stark was page two of Vogue magazine – _again._ She sighed heavily as she inspected the article's glossy title: TONY STARK'S DAUGHTER PARTIES IT UP IN LA! She snorted and tossed the magazine aside after reading the first paragraph, which predominantly described her designer wardrobe. She hadn't been _partying._ She and her boyfriend, Ezekiel Stane, had been taking a break from their hectic lives and letting loose. But of course, anywhere Ellie went, the cameras followed. The same could be said for Zeke, only son of Stark Industries company manager, Obadiah.

Ellie tapped a quick text to Zeke on her iPhone and examined her nails with a grimace. She'd have to get her stylist to give her another manicure, they really were getting atrocious. Sighing, she pushed herself to her feet and nudged Vogue aside with a careless foot. Zeke was at university and she didn't get to see him often – but when she did, they were hounded by the press wherever they went. She was seventeen; it wasn't like she was off drinking and clubbing.

"Ellie, I grabbed your lunch." Pepper Potts, Tony's personal assistant and the only woman he was close to that Ellie actually respected, was out in the lounge with the trademark of Ellie's Tuesdays: chicken sushi with extra soy sauce, and an iced mocha from Starbuck's. Pepper was a woman Ellie could aspire to be like. Having finished school a year early, Ellie had been putting off university because she didn't have a goal yet…but she usually looked to Pepper for academic advice.

After all, where was Ellie's mother? Sarah Donovan had just been a fling until she and Tony had conceived Ellie. She'd given her daughter to Tony, knowing that the girl would have a better education and upbringing with her billionaire father, even if the man was absent more times than not. But Sarah was always around, always responding to Ellie's texts and calls. But in the last few months, Ellie hadn't had her texts returned, and her calls all went to voice mail. Where was her mum?

"Cheers, Pepper." Ellie unstuck the plastic lid and munched happily on her sushi, washing it down with a slurp of her mocha every now and again. That was another great thing about Pepper – she knew Ellie so well that she was practically a second mum. Well, maybe not quite that far, but Ellie trusted Pepper with things she'd never tell Tony about. Hell, her dad probably still thought she was a _virgin_, even though she'd been dating Zeke for six months.

"Tony's getting ready for a trip to Afghanistan to visit some of the soldiers," Pepper informed Ellie. The dark-haired girl didn't even need to ask where her dad was – Pepper seemed to find it her responsibility to keep Ellie up to date. At least Tony was going away for a cause, though. Last month, he'd been in the Bahamas to party it up.

"How long's he going to be there?" Ellie asked. It was more out of automatic response than actual interest. Her dad came and went; she was used to it by now. She had much more permanent people – like Pepper and Zeke – in her life.

"Only a few days," Pepper stated and Ellie nodded, finishing off her sushi. Normally Tony came home before he went on business trips – came him drunk or with a girl on his arm, or possibly both. Ellie winced, wanting to be shut up in her room when that happened. She resented the attention he showered on those women, even if it was briefly. She was hardly ever someone Tony spent time with.

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"Hey, Ellie, over here!"

"Give us a smile, baby!"

Ellie crossed the street, thoroughly disgruntled as reporters followed her like a bad smell. Man, she couldn't even meet up with her boyfriend in a little Brooklyn coffee shop without being stalked by flashing cameras and shouting journalists. She pulled her hoodie over her head in the hope that they'd get the message to bugger off. Luckily, Ellie's combination of plain denim skinny jeans and an oversized hoodie meant that once she disappeared into Maria's, she was practically unrecognizable.

Zeke sat at a booth stirring a flat white. He too was dressed inconspicuously and it frustrated Ellie that they had to lay low just to avoid their coffee date being posted all over Glamour magazine. She slid into the booth across from him and pulled her hood down, flashing him a grin across the table. She really had picked a cute one – well, he'd picked her. Zeke had his father's sharp features, but he was attractive, with dark blue eyes and spiky blonde hair. He was also six foot three and twenty years old.

"Manage to escape the paparazzi?" he asked, sliding his flat white across to her. Ellie wasn't much of a flat white person, but it was practically her ritual to have a sip of Zeke's flat white before ordering her own mocha.

"Only just." Ellie pressed a hand over her heart and mocked fainting. The waitress came to take her order and it was clear by the bored expression on the woman's face that she had no idea she was speaking to billionaire Tony Stark's daughter. Once she left, Ellie raked her dark hair out of her blue eyes and examined Zeke, gnawing on her lip. "Mum still hasn't responded to my messages. It's been over two months. I don't know where she could have gone."

"Maybe she just got a new phone number," Zeke suggested, taking another sip of his flat white. It was a perfectly reasonable thought, but that didn't sound like Sarah at all. Ellie's mother was organised to the point of being OCD. Whenever Ellie went over to her house, the place was spotless. It just didn't make sense that Sarah would have got a new number without telling her daughter.

"Maybe," Ellie murmured, smiling her thanks as the waitress placed a mocha in front of her. She knew that as usual, Zeke would insist on paying and as usual, she would ask who was the billionaire's child out of the two of them…not that the argument ever worked for her.

"Hey, don't be so worried." Zeke placed a hand over her, and when Ellie looked into his dark eyes, she felt like maybe everything would be okay after all. "Look, your dad might know something. Are you going to talk to him before he goes off to Afghanistan?"

"I…I don't know." Ellie fiddled with her mug. It was hot to the touch. "If he can actually be bothered seeing me, I guess."

She didn't mean for the bitterness to seep through, but it did anyway. Why did it feel like neither of her parents was bothering with her? Her dad was always busy; her mum was completely out of contact. It seemed like she could on rely on Zeke and Pepper these days. Even Obadiah was a man Ellie didn't completely trust, although she'd never tell Zeke that.

"He's still your dad," Zeke reminded her, "Don't worry, mine's the same a lot of the time. Press conferences, meetings…it's all the same."

Ellie knew it wasn't. Obadiah dealt with business, while Tony went out and partied. He'd probably even manage to find a strip joint in _Afghanistan_ knowing him. The thought make her shake her head in disgust, and take another sip of her mocha for good measure. When the waitress brought the bill, the usual argument commenced.

"Ellie, seriously, it's on me."

She fished her credit card out of her wallet. "Um, practically unlimited money?"

That was pretty much how Tony Stark showed his daughter affection – by giving her a credit card and expensive presents, like that could make it up to her, like it could placate Sarah, who constantly felt their daughter was being neglected. Ellie loved her credit card, but she would have loved some real attention even more.

"Let me pay, or this argument is going to go on for an hour, I swear."

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Another great thing about Pepper Potts: her cooking was amazing. Sometimes Tony would have a chef in to do that kind of thing for him, but when he was out, it was usually Pepper who would either take Ellie out or make her something homemade. Ellie couldn't cook to save herself, so she was grateful that Pepper's meals were so delicious. They were halfway through pork with stewed apple and garden salad when the lift opened and Tony stepped out.

"When do you two fly out?" Tony asked, by way of greeting. Ellie had almost forgotten that she and Pepper were going to be flying back to the house in Malibu tomorrow. She usually split her time between Malibu and Stark Tower – California was pretty and she loved the beach, but there was also something about the bustling city that appealed to her as well.

"Tomorrow morning," Ellie replied, skewering her pork with more force than was necessary. She didn't even look up from her meal, because if Tony was just going to waltz in like he didn't even need to say hi properly, why would she bother? It looked like she wasn't going to even get a chance to talk to him about her mum.

"Have you had dinner, Tony?" Pepper asked. Ellie pushed herself to her feet once her plate was clean. She felt like she really didn't want to be here right now. If only she was old enough to attend college with Zeke. She put her plate in the sink and raked her hair out of her eyes, passing Tony on her way to her room.

Ellie heard Pepper and Tony talking in the kitchen as she padded over and hooked her iPod up to her dock, flopping on her bed and switching on some Nightwish. She closed her eyes and let the music flow. Her door opened and she jerked up, glaring as Tony swaggered into her room. She made no attempt to turn Nightwish down.

"So. I hear you caught up with Zeke today. Still going out with him, huh?"

"You're actually interested?" Ellie folded her arms over her chest, unimpressed. That seemed to be the only thing Tony could remember about her. Did he even remember her middle name? She sometimes wondered.

"You're my daughter," Tony replied slowly, knowing that it was stating the obvious. Okay, so he hadn't been there a lot for Ellie recently, and he knew that. But he'd just been so busy. When he got from Afghanistan…maybe they'd have to do something together, like father/daughter bonding time.

"Did you even know that Mum hasn't been in contact for over a month?" Ellie demanded, her voice rising. Dammit, she didn't want to yell, she didn't want to show him that she was upset. He'd probably dismiss it as some kind of temper tantrum. "No calls, no texts…nothing. Do you know where she is? Doesn't she want to see me?"

"Ellie, chill." Tony held up both his hands and heaved a sigh. "No, I don't know why Sarah hasn't been in contact. Like she'd even talk to me."

She narrowed her eyes at her dad's attempt to play the 'pitiful me' card. That wasn't fair at all. It was Sarah who had come off worse during her affair with Tony. Sometimes, Ellie wondered what would have happened if she hadn't been conceived. Did her parents see her as some kind of burden?

"So you have no clue why she's stopped returning calls?"

"None at all." Tony held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. Ellie wondered whether her dad ever took anything seriously. He glanced at her iPod dock but her gaze remained stony, and he knew that she wasn't going to turn the music down. Sighing in defeat, Tony sat down on his daughter's bed. "Look, Ellie…I try, okay? It's not easy being a dad, but I'm trying to talk to you now."

"Not easy?" Ellie threw him a scornful look. "Don't bullshit me. You'd totally prefer to go out and have a good time than have to deal with a _teenager_. Can't I come to Afghanistan at least?"

"Absolutely not," Tony said sternly, in the most parental tone Ellie had ever heard him use. "There's a war going on there. I'm just visiting the soldiers. You're going straight back to Malibu with Pepper, and I'll meet you there by the end of the week, okay?"

Ellie inspected him critically. "Do you promise we'll do something when you get back? Like…something family-orientated?"

Tony sighed and pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead. "Alright, alright, I promise."

Little did either of them know then what Afghanistan would hold, and the changes that Tony Stark's time there would have on their relationship.


End file.
